Slashdot Mirror
Firefox Too Big To Link On 32-bit Windows
An anonymous reader writes "Firefox has gotten so large that it cannot be compiled with PGO on a 32-bit linker anymore, due to the virtual memory limitation of 3 GB. This problem had happened last year with 2 GB, which was worked around by adding a/3GB switch to the Windows build servers. Now the problem is back, and things aren't quite that simple anymore."
This only affects the inbound branch, but from the looks of it new code is no longer being accepted until they can trim things from the build to make it work again. The long term solution is to build the 32-bit binaries on a 64-bit system.
You're right. As anyone who's read C++ FQA by Yossi Kreinin might guess, C++ itself could be one of the culprits.
I can't speak to Firefox specifically, but in my hands, for my project, VC++ produces code that is VASTLY superior to gcc. With gcc, I can often get significant speedup by hand-optimizing code; with VC++, my bog-simple code gets automatically optimized better than my most aggressive manual efforts. Like it or not, Microsoft has the currently best compiler.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
Looks like they're having similar problems:
https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=21932
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
The other day a coworker walked in to ask me what I use as my browser. I said Safari. He asked why not Chrome. I told him I had Chrome installed, and used it occasionally. I couldn't remember exactly why I prefer Safari, so I started both of them up. Safari was done launching in a couple of seconds, almost before I had time to click on Chrome. We continued our discussion of why I don't use Chrome while waiting for it to launch.
Checking the .app size... Safari is 35 MB, Chrome is about a quarter of a gig.